Kim Possible: The Thin Blue Line
by recon228
Summary: Following a global crackdown on all worldwide super villains, Kim and Ron find themselves out of work in the world saving business. When Kim takes the news personally, Ron comes up with an interesting idea to occupy their free time... law enforcement!
1. Prologue

_All right, some of you are probably wondering where **Eleven Ninety Nine** went, seeing as how it's completely disappeared from this site... long story short; I sold the rights to the original story and they asked me to remove my Kim Possible version. For more info, you can visit this page on my deviant account: **http:(/)(/)recon228(.)deviantart(.)com(/)journal(/)5619628(/) **- just remove the parenthesis._

_In the meantime, here's a new, slightly different, _Kim Possible_ fanfiction by recon228... hope you enjoy.__

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**Kim Possible: The Thin Blue Line  
**_By: recon228

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_

To the men and women  
who make up  
the Thin Blue Line

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**Prologue**

- _**Middleton, California** _-  
(_Present Day)_

"**_25-Y-13 requesting assistance, we've got a possible 211 in-progress at the Bank of America… Bank of America, 1643 Main Street, we have shots fired!_**"

Seventeen-year-old Kim Possible let out an involuntary yelp as another spray of automatic gunfire tore through the black-and-white Middleton Police cruiser she had taken refuge behind. She bowed her head to shield her eyes from the glass, paint, and metal that showered down on her as armor-piercing rounds tore mercilessly through her already destroyed patrol car.

"**_All Tri-city units, officers need help Bank of America, 1643 Main Street in Middleton… repeat officers need help Bank of America, 1643 Main Street… for a 211 with shots fired!_**"

Across the street, Kim's childhood friend Ron Stoppable was hunkered down behind another black-and-white; he too had to cover his face as rounds from the other suspect's gun tore through his car as well.

David Brown, the officer he had been riding with at the time of the call, was a few feet behind him, fighting to claw a fresh magazine from his gun-belt while avoiding exposing himself to the wrath of the gunmen.

Though she had only caught a brief look at the shooters, Kim could tell just by their profiles that they were wearing enough body armor to stop anything the department had available at the scene… and that wasn't much.

As it stood for the moment, one officer was down, most likely dead, and the other was armed only with his department-issue .40 caliber pistol.

Though she and Ron weren't permitted to carry firearms, the blond had apparently been able to grab the patrol shotgun from his squad car, however, at the moment most of his attention seemed to be focused on Kim, rather than the gunmen.

"**_25-Y-13 be advised I've got witnesses at the scene reporting at least two suspects inside; they're wearing ski masks and dark clothing… possible body armor and AK-47 assault rifles!_**"

"_Hold on KP!_" Ron's worried voice drifted out of the small mic clipped to her shoulder. "_Just stay down! We're gonna get you outta there... hold on! How's your shoulder feel?_"

The redhead took her right arm off of the bloody wound in her left shoulder and keyed her mic.

"My shoulder? It's got a hole in it! How do you _think_ it feels?" Kim snapped back at him. "Now stay off the damn channel and keep your head down! I'm in it no worse than the rest of you!"

She was being rather callous with him, but sometimes that was the only way to get him to lay-off and do his job… at least he had managed to grab a gun; she had nothing but a radio, handcuffs, and mace. Plus, to add injury to insult, she had managed to take a direct hit to her left shoulder within ten seconds of pulling up in front of the bank.

"**_Y-13, advise responding units these suspects are reported to be carrying AK-47's… we've got automatic gunfire coming from somewhere inside the bank._**"

Ron felt hurt by Kim's harsh words; he was just looking out for her safety… at least he had David there with him and was unhurt. Kim, on the other hand, was injured, alone, and unarmed. Ron would have been too, if he hadn't disobeyed department policy and grabbed the shotgun from the gunlock in the cruiser.

"**_Everybody stay down… we got rapid automatic gunfire, they're pummeling the area with fire!_**"

'_Fine,_' Ron told himself. '_Kim may not be able to do anything to protect herself, but **I** sure as hell can…_'

He ripped open the canvas sidesaddle strapped to the gun's stock and pulled out four one-ounce steel slugs.

"Let's see if your armor can stop a couple of these." He mumbled as he emptied the 00-Buck from the Remington and replaced it with the 12 gauge anti-armor rounds.

Ron took a deep breath and racked the slide of the shotgun, chambering one of the steel slugs.

"**_25-Y-14 shots fired, officer down! Officer down! Multiple suspects… fully-automatic weapons… need help NOW!_**"

"What are you doing?" David yelled over to him from his position under cover.

"I'm gonna try to take these guys out!" Ron announced, giving the officer a determined glare. "I need you to cover me!"

"**_25-W-1 I'm declaring a Tac-alert, requesting SWAT code 3; we have multiple officers pinned-down by automatic gunfire… requesting an ETA for SWAT!_**"

David shook his head in disbelief. "Don't be an idiot Stoppable, this isn't paintball and videogames! Besides, there's no way buckshot will get through their armor!"

"I loaded it with slugs!" Ron said as he disengaged the safety and rolled onto the balls of his feet, ready to rise up and fire. "You've seen me out at the range… you know what I can do with this. Now are you gonna cover me, or am I doing it alone?"

"**_Copy, SWAT is being notified code 3… all officers stay down! Shots are being fired from AK-47's, there are multiple officer's down!_**"

"Alright," David nodded. "We go on three!"

"**One…**"

Ron tightened his grip on the shotgun and took a series of deep breaths to calm his shaky nerves. He had grown accustomed to the fact that in times of danger and stress, he was not exactly famous for taking action… at least appropriate action.

"**_All units stay down! Repeat DO NOT engage the suspects… they've got automatic weapons… there's nothing we have that can stop them!_**"

This time, however, was going to be different… this time he was going to show everyone just how useful he could be.

"**Two…**"

'_Maybe I **am** a loser, but I **won't** let you get hurt Kim,_' Ron thought as he brought the stock of the gun up to his shoulder. '_Joining the Cadet program was my idea in the first place and I'm not gonna let you suffer as a result. If there was ever a time for me to prove myself, this is it…_'

"**Three…**"

'_Now if only I could find the courage to ask you to the Senior Prom…_'

---

- **_Middleton, California _**-  
(_Two Years Earlier)_

A surprisingly robust middle-class suburban community: Middleton, California, with its population hovering just below 30,000 people, is a town of considerable wealth and influence. Located within a day's drive of both the Pacific Ocean and the Sierra Nevada's, and host to the Middleton Space and Science Center, Middleton is considered by many to be an ideal community to live and raise a family.

The general layout of the town, which, nestled between the neighboring communities of Upperton and Lowerton makes up one-quarter of the Tri-city area, is split in half by a four-lane road (Appropriately named Main Street) which runs from the North to the South and eventually meets the highway just outside of town. Main street is also the location of most of Middleton's businesses such as Smarty Mart, The Middleton Mall, Bank of America, and a number of gas stations just to name a few.

From a bird's-eye view, the demographic zones of Middleton radiate out from the center of town in a rough '_bulls eye_' formation: with the commercial/business sections in the center, the industrial/warehouse sections in the inner ring, and the school/residential sections on the outer flanks.

The Middleton Space and Science Center (Or Space Center as it is known to the locals) is located next to the Middleton Community Park in the Southwest quadrant of town: just outside of the industrial section of town. Middleton High School, an establishment worshipped by over-stressed parents and lamented by teenagers, is located on the opposite side of town well within the safe confines of the residential ring.

Approximately half a mile from Middleton High, on a relatively nondescript residential street, is 1412 Maple Street. A modest two-story home, 1412 Maple Street is unique not in its appearance (Which resembles most of the other houses in this high-end neighborhood), but in the family that lives within its walls.

If one were to describe the Possible family to a complete stranger, that stranger would most likely think he was listening to the description of a TV sitcom in development…

Dr. James Possible, the father, is the director of Advanced Rocketry at the Space Center. Dr. Ann Possible, the mother, is the head of Neurosurgery at the Middleton Medical Center. Their fifteen-year-old daughter, Kim Possible is known the world over for her role in frequently saving the world from super-villains and their ten-year-old twin sons, Jim and Tim Possible are also well known for their radical science experiments; though their infamy is mostly recognized among members of the local fire department and county HazMat.

Every member of the Possible family was known for their distinct roles in the community… even Jim and Tim, whose activities helped to keep emergency services at the ready.

What most people didn't know was that on this mildly cool October morning, the role of one of those individuals was going to be changed forever... all because of a simple United Nations resolution.

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- _Some of you may be a little confused about what's going on here so here's the sitch;_

**_Synopsis:_** Following a global crackdown on all worldwide super-villains, Kim and Ron find themselves out of work in the hero division. Kim... of course... takes the news rather hard and, in an attempt to bring her out of her funk, Ron suggests volunteer work for the Middleton Police Department in order to "_save the world, one citizen at a time_". However, serving and protecting the community you live in can be much more complicated than you think...

_The first part of the prologue _(What you've just read)_ takes place about three quarters of the way into the story... but then rewinds two years to recap the events leading up to the shootout. Needless to say, many of the confusing details of the prologue will be revealed gradually as the story progresses._

_The story itself is going to be all about Kim and Ron's experiences working as Police Cadets in Middleton... there will be good and bad moments for them both as they have to deal with issues from an entirely different perspective than their high school peers._


	2. Chapter 1

_Classic Cowboy: I do plan to make **ALoI: Redux**, but probably not a sequel. Stay tuned..._

_noveler00: __I modeled the shootout from the last chapter after the 1997 North Hollywood Bank of America robbery... most of those radio transmissions were actually based off of the audio recording of the incident._

_Mavric: This chapter should provide some more details about what happened to Team Possible... though action-wise you may be waiting a while... that's not what this story is about._

_

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**Chapter One**

_- **Possible Residence** -  
(Sunday)_

The entire neighborhood was cast under an unusual silence…

Though it _was_ just barely past eight in the morning, on most other Sunday's the area around Maple St. would already be buzzing with the sound of mowers, blowers, wood-chippers, and various other forms of backyard equipment that accompanied the last day before a new week.

This morning, however, the only sound that managed to break the silence was the solitary whine of a small blue scooter as it made its way up the street toward its destination.

Even over the din of the bike's motor, sixteen-year-old Ronald Stoppable could detect the unusual silence that hung in the air around him.

To anyone else, the silence would have been automatically attributed to the fact that the temperature outside was hovering just past fifty degrees and the sky was heavily overcast; therefore daunting even the most determined homeowner from venturing out into their backyards to work.

To Ron, however, the reason behind the silence was unquestionable… the Earth was grieving.

'_Ok… maybe the Earth's not actually grieving,_' He corrected as he brought his scooter to a stop in front of the Possible Residence. '_But I do know of at least one person who is…_'

Dismounting the bike, the teen stowed his helmet under the seat and had taken a few steps up the path when he felt a small hand tugging at the base of his shirt. Glancing down, he found Rufus hanging out of his pants pocket.

The molerat was tugging on his shirt with one hand and pointing back toward the scooter with the other: a look of concern on his small pink face.

"What is it buddy?" Ron asked, scooping his pet/friend up into his hand.

"Hmm… flier." Rufus squeaked, pointing to the compartment on the side of his bike. Ron gave him a blank look for a few seconds before Rufus' garbled words came together in his head.

"Oh right, the flier…" He walked back and pulled a slightly crumpled blue sheet of paper from the compartment and gave Rufus a thumbs-up, which the rodent returned along with a happy squeak. "Hope she at least _considers_ this as an option."

With a barely audible sigh, the teen walked up the short path to the front door, rang the doorbell, and waited for one of the Possible's to answer.

Normally he wouldn't have bothered with such formalities and would have just walked right in and announced himself… or at least rung once before opening the door. That was, however, something the '_normal_' Ron did, and while not nearly as depressed as he had a feeling his best friend was, he wasn't exactly feeling upbeat and cheery either.

After about ten seconds, Ron heard footsteps approaching and the front door opened to reveal Kim's mom, Dr. Ann Possible. The middle-aged woman actually seemed to relax slightly when she realized who it was on the front porch.

"Oh Ron, honey," She said in a gentle tone. "You know you don't have to actually ring the doorbell here…"

Ron offered her a weak smile and shrugged his shoulders.

"Sorry Mrs. Dr. P… I forgot… again."

The auburn-haired neurosurgeon placed her hand gently on the boy's shoulder and lead him inside out of the cold.

"I take it you've heard the news?" She asked sympathetically.

"Yeah," Ron sighed and nodded. "My parents woke me up at six this morning to tell me… I've also had Rabbi Katz and Dr. Director stop by to give their support and advice."

"Dr. Director stopped by your house too? Well that was nice of her." Mrs. Possible looked over her shoulder toward the living room. "She stopped by here as well in order to personally thank Kimmie for her hard work… and to assure you both that the government's decision was not based on anything you two did wrong, they just felt it was time to take harsher action against those villains…" She paused for a moment and leaned in toward him, as if to tell him a secret. "Though personally I think _someone_ just wanted to ensure themselves a safe re-election come next November."

"Actually," Ron informed her. "CNN said that it was England who brought the _Super-villain Enforcement Act_ to the UN Security Council, not us."

"Oh… well, I haven't been watching the news too much this morning anyway." She noted as her eyes traveled down to the piece of paper in his left hand. "What've you got there?"

The teen followed her gaze to the paper in his hand and extended it for her to examine.

"It's a flier Rabbi Katz gave me," He explained. "It's not exactly saving the world, but it _is_ still helping people… kinda."

As she looked it over, her expression seemed to brighten slightly.

"This looks like fun, I'll bet Kimmie will just love this idea!" She handed the flier back to Ron, whose expression was still a bit uncertain.

"Um, how _is_ Kim taking the news?" He asked hesitantly.

"Well," Mrs. Possible sighed. "You know her… I think she sees this as a failure on her part. That if only she had worked harder, or been better, the government wouldn't have gotten involved…"

"I don't think that's the case." Ron replied.

"Yeah, well, try telling _her_ that." She sighed again, only this time out of frustration rather than depression. "She's in the living room, curled up in a ball watching CNN or something…"

With that she gave Ron a reassuring shoulder-squeeze and walked into the kitchen, leaving the freckled blond alone in the entryway. Taking one last look at the paper in his hand, Ron took a deep breath and entered the living room; not quite sure what he was going to find….

---

When Mrs. Possible had stated rather harshly that her daughter was '_In the living room, curled up in a ball_', Ron thought it to be an exaggeration. As it turned out, her statement was _not_ an exaggeration.

Kim was sitting on the couch, feet apparently drawn up into her chest, covered from her shoulders down with a large blanket. Thought the TV in front of her was tuned to a local news channel, Ron noticed rather quickly that her eyes were actually fixed on a spot about four feet in front of the TV… a spot occupied by the familiar blue shape of her Kimmunicator.

Ron was at a complete loss for words. In their eleven-year friendship he had _never_ seen his friend like this. She was always the strong one… the _leader_… not the type of person who would curl up on the couch and sulk.

Granted Ron hadn't expected her to be upbeat and cheery… but he hadn't expected her to be an emotional zombie either. His first impulse was to say something funny to try and cheer her up, but he decided against it. She needed friendship, support, and ideas… not humor.

"H-hey Kim…" He made his way slowly over to the couch and sat down next to her. "Uh… how you doing?"

"They shot Dementor…" Kim answered in a hollow voice. Her gaze never left the derelict Kimmunicator.

"They got Dementor?" Ron repeated.

"No, they _shot_ Dementor…" Kim clarified, turning her head to face him.

Ron looked toward the TV and then back to Kim.

"_Who_ shot Dementor?"

"I don't know…" She shrugged. "Some kind of special forces team probably."

"Is he…" Ron was hesitant to know the answer but asked anyway.

Kim shook her head.

"The news says he'll live."

She turned her eyes back to the TV and the room fell into an awkward silence for close to a minute while Ron tried to figure out what to say next. He finally settled on the first thought that popped into his mind.

"This doesn't have anything to do with you or me y'know. I mean… we didn't mess up or anything. The UN just got tired of Drakken and the rest of them threatening the world on a weekly basis and decided to take action. Dr. Director told me the only reason this didn't happen _years_ ago was because we came along."

"I know," Kim sighed. "I'm not upset because I think we've failed…"

"Then why…" Ron began to ask.

"They kicked us to the curb Ron!" Kim cried. "We worked our butts off for three years dealing with mad scientists, mad golfers, mad… _everything_… and what do we have to show for it?"

"Kim…"

"I know, I know…" Kim interrupted. "That's totally shallow of me to say… but it's true!"

As Ron listened sympathetically to Kim's rant, she got up from the couch and retrieved the Kimmunicator from its place on the floor. As she returned to the couch she tossed it to Ron.

"Go ahead and try to contact Wade… see what he has to say about all this." Kim commanded. Her depression, Ron noted, was quickly turning into anger and bitterness.

Ron flipped the Kimmunicator over in his hands and pushed the call button. Normally this would open a two-way video feed between them and the ten-year-old super genius, but when Ron hit the button all he got was a blue screen and an error message.

"_Invalid Dst. Address - Video feed error._" Ron dictated before looking up at Kim. "What's this?"

"He disconnected his hardware." Kim announced; grabbing the device and tossing it back onto the floor.

"He ditched us?"

"No," Kim corrected. "GJ offered him a top-level research position in their Upperton headquarters and asked him to stop working for us."

"GJ offered him a _job_?" Ron shook his head in disbelief. "But he's only ten!"

"Yet he has an ability they wanted, so they took care of him… as for us?" Kim threw her arms up and fell back onto the couch next to Ron. "Thrown to the curb like useless garbage…"

"Well, we _could_ still do the Team Possible thing…" Ron offered rather unenthusiastically. "Sure the crime fighting is over, but we've still got other things we could do. Things like…"

"Babysitting?" Kim interjected. "Thanks, but I'd rather just call it quits…"

She threw her head back and let out a frustrated groan.

"Hey KP?" Ron asked after another moment of silence.

"Hmm?"

"What exactly _are_ you going to miss about the hero work?"

"What do you mean?" She asked, pivoting slightly so that her entire body was facing him.

"Well…" He paused. "Earlier this morning Rabbi Katz asked me why I was always so willing to go on missions anywhere in the world at a moment's notice and face unimaginable dangers to do a job that, realistically, should have been handled by a team of Navy SEALS. I realized that up until that point, I'd never really thought about why I was willing to do it… I just _was_." He reached into his pocket and pulled the flier out. "At first I thought it was just so that I could help you and make sure you were safe. But when I really thought about it, I realized it went deeper than that…"

Because his gaze was fixed on the paper in his hands, Ron missed the affectionate smile Kim gave him when he spoke of wanting to keep her safe.

"I realized that I fought along with you because I wanted to protect people… not just _you_, but everyone who's lives could be put in harm's way by Drakken, Dementor, Monkey Fist, or any of those other lunatics." He looked up at Kim and handed her the piece of paper. "That's why Rabbi Katz gave me this…"

Kim took the flier and began to read it. When she finished, she looked back at her friend with a rather skeptical look on her face.

"You want us to become police cadets?"

"Why not?" Ron rationalized. "Katz is somewhat familiar with the Middleton Police Department's program, he say's it's great for teens who want to help others like we do. And there's no obligations either… if you don't want to be a cop you aren't gonna be forced into it. It's just a chance for us to keep putting our talents to good use by saving the world '_One citizen at a time_'."

"I don't know…" She said hesitantly. "Working for the police might not make us the most popular people among our classmates y'know."

"What are you talking about? You're _The_ Kim Possible…" Ron said energetically. "You'll be respected by everyone no matter what you do… well, except from Bonnie… but she's, y'know… _Bonnie_."

"First of all," Kim retorted. "Since when does my name have a '_The_' in front of it? And second, why do you want me to become a cadet too? If it interests you, you should move on it… you don't need me to go with you."

Ron leaned over and put his hand on Kim's shoulder.

"We're still a team KP…" Ron said, looking her directly in the eyes. "And our motto is to never leave a man behind."

"Ron," Kim sighed. "Isn't that a _Marine Corps. _motto?"

"Yes, but it's still a good motto." He joked. "If you don't want to do it, that's cool… but I _do_ think this could be a unique experience for us."

"Well…" Kim paused.

"Look at it this way," Ron shrugged. "Worst thing that happens is we don't like it and we quit… not like it'll be any more dangerous than fighting Drakken ever was."

After a few seconds Kim sighed and nodded her head.

"Alright," She handed the flier back to Ron. "I'll try it out."

Ron pocketed the flier and gave his friend a wide grin.

Returning her friend's smile, Kim added, "This just better not end up getting me shot at or I'm gonna kick your butt!"

"Don't worry," Ron chuckled. "It's Middleton… what's the worst that could happen?"


	3. Chapter 2

_Canadian Crow: It sure does... it also makes this story pretty unique._

_Redbird1: Nice to see other LEO's out there who are fans. Thanks for the comment on the atmosphere portrayed during the shootout, the fact that you were actually there brings even more merit to your compliment._

_continental-line: I'm actually thinking of going with option 5 _(_With some elements of those other four added where applicable_)

_Godhand's Number: Well eventually the UN is bound to do **something**... even if they do it by accident._

_Darkren186: With all the different military motto's out there, it's hard to remember which one's belong to which branch. Thanks for letting me know, I went ahead and changed it._

_noveler00: Thank you... one of the hardest thing to do_ (_In my opinion_)_ is give complex emotions to a pair of cartoon characters. It's nice to know I succeded._

_TheFourthman: My thought exactly...it was only a matter of time before politics got in the way of Team Possible's operations._

_Mavyric: Not really... Shego was arrested along with the rest of the villains in the prologue. Sean may make a cameo, though only if an incident falls under FBI jurisdiction._

_Sorry it took a while to update this, I'm gonna have to attribute the delay to 98 percent work related and 2 percent procrastination. So without further delay, here's chapter two..._

_

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**Chapter Two**

- _**Middleton High School**_ -  
(_Monday_)

Anyone who has lost a loved one, been through a particularly painful breakup or divorce, or been fired from a job they actually enjoyed doing knows that one of the hardest things you have to do is wake up the next morning and continue with your everyday life. Despite the overwhelming urge to curl up and hide from society, most of us are grudgingly forced right back into the swing of things.

For Kim, going back to school Monday was one of the hardest things she had done up to that point. It wasn't the fact that, at the age of fifteen, she had just now experienced the harsh reality of defeat. It wasn't even the fact that Ron had called her that morning and told her he wouldn't be at school until third period; effectively leaving Kim on her own until they could meet up at lunch.

No… the worst part about school that morning was the sympathetic looks and sideways glances everyone seemed to be giving her. As she walked from class to class, students she never even had contact with on normal days were coming up and saying '_hi_' to her. A few even came right out and expressed their sympathy, anger, or frustration over her situation.

Most of the people she passed, however, would pause mid-sentence and try to avoid eye contact, as if her failure could be somehow spread to their lives like a disease. The trend continued all through her morning classes and right up until lunch.

During the teachers' lectures Kim didn't even want to look up from her notes because all she would see would be the piercing gazes of her classmates. At one point she even caught her second period history teacher looking at her as if she was something to be pitied.

Finally, after what seemed like days, the bell rang for lunch. Grabbing her bags, Kim was out the door before most of the other students were even out of their seats. At that point all she wanted to do was drop her bag off at her locker, meet up with Ron in the cafeteria, and hope that her day would finally get better.

---

- _**Cafeteria**_ -

After a quick stop at her locker, Kim walked through the doors of the Middleton High Cafeteria. She breathed a quick sigh of relief as she looked toward the far corner where she and Ron always sat and ate. Her sigh, however, turned to lead in her throat when she realized that the table was empty.

'_Maybe he's still in line bothering the cafeteria lady._' Kim thought as she looked in the direction of the rapidly growing lunch-line.

There were a lot of hungry students, but Ron wasn't one of them. With a dejected sigh Kim turned and headed back in the direction of the door.

"Kim!"

She was just leaving the cafeteria when a familiar voice shouted her name from the direction of the lunch-line. Turning back around Kim saw Monique practically running toward her with a tray of food in her hands.

Though she had only moved to Middleton a few months before, Monique had quickly become friends with both Kim and Ron. Their friendship was thanks largely to the teen's love for professional wrestling, energetic spirit, and most importantly: her _Club Banana_ employee discount, which she gladly shared with Kim on a frequent basis.

Before Kim could even manage a '_hello_', Monique dropped her plate in the center of a nearby table and embraced the redhead in a comforting hug.

"Oh Kim, I am _so_ sorry…" Monique said after releasing Kim from her embrace. "I heard all about what happened on the news yesterday! I tried to call your Kimmunicator but it wouldn't connect."

"Yeah, sorry about that…" Kim smiled meekly. "Since Team Possible is gone I decided to ditch the Kimmunicator in favor of a more conventional means of communication." Kim reached into her pocket and pulled out a small cell phone. "I had the number rolled over, so it should work the next time you call me."

"No way," Monique gasped, snatching the phone from Kim's hand like an excited child. "This is one of those new camera-phones isn't it?"

"Uh yeah, it is."

"Girl! Nothing but the best for you huh?" Monique teased.

"Yeah, right…" Kim said dismissively, she still couldn't find any trace of Ron.

"And its got polyphonic ring tones too… ooh, you should totally download that new O-Boyz song… or maybe-"

"Monique," Kim said, interrupting her friend's excited rambling. "Have you seen Ron today?"

"Yeah, just a minute ago before you got here." Monique replied, not taking her eyes off of Kim's new phone. "He said he was gonna try to catch you at your locker… mentioned needing you to sign something, but he wouldn't say what."

"Cool, thanks…" Kim said, turning and walking off in the direction of her locker.

"Hey, wait for me!" Monique shouted as she followed her friend out the cafeteria doors.

---

- _**B Hall**_ -

"He's not here either!" Kim groaned. She banged her head against her locker door and looked over at Monique. "You said he was waiting for me _here_!"

"Whoa, calm down…" Monique urged. "I'm sure he'll be here soon; don't panic."

'_Don't panic? Right…_' Kim thought. '_I'm having probably the worst day of my life and my best friend is nowhere to be found. The only thing that could make this moment any worse would be-_'

"Hey Kim!"

'…_Bonnie…_'

Hesitantly, Kim turned to face the brunette cheerleader who was, as usual, wearing her cheer outfit outside of practice for reasons that escaped most of the other members.

"Hello Bonnie…" Kim grumbled.

"I must say Kim," Bonnie said in mock surprise. "I wasn't expecting you to actually show up today!"

'_Just ignore her,_' Kim's inner voice warned. '_She's only trying to get a rise out of you; do **not** acknowledge her!_'

"Why's that Bonnie?" She blurted out.

'_Crap…_'

"Well," Bonnie began, reveling in the fact that their conversation was already starting to attract a crowd. "C'mon Kim; not only did you get fired from you're little wannabe '_hero_' thing… but it was all over the news! If I were you, I wouldn't have even bothered showing my face today… or _ever_."

"I wasn't _fired_ Bonnie…" Kim growled.

"Oh right, I'm sure they were just '_forced_' to take action weren't they?" The brunette laughed. "C'mon Kim… you need to stop living in that cloud of yours and come back down to Earth-"

By this point Kim wasn't even listening to her rival's words. All she could see were her lips silently moving through an increasing white haze that was clouding her vision.

On any other day she would have been able to brush off Bonnie's petty insults… but not today. After the events of the past forty-eight hours, the pitiful looks given to her by her classmates, and the absence of her best friend, Kim had finally had all she could take…

Nobody noticed Kim's right arm began to rise up slightly; her fist curled into a tight ball.

'_Just one punch,_' Kim thought. '_I don't care what happens to me now… just one well-placed punch and I'll wipe that smug grin off her face for good!_'

"Hey Bon-Bon, there you are!" A familiar voice called out from the edge of the group.

Kim's arm dropped and her vision began returning to normal as Ron stepped up besides Bonnie and threw his arm across her shoulders.

"You have no idea how long I've been looking for you today…" Ron grinned at Bonnie.

"Ugh, get your hand off me loser!" Bonnie growled, trying to shake Ron's arm loose.

"Now Bon-Bon," Ron grinned even wider as he tightened his grip on the girl's shoulders. "That's no way to talk to your _boyfriend_ is it?"

His comment had the exact effect Ron was hoping it would; the entire hallway fell silent as Bonnie's lower jaw practically hit the floor. For the first time… _ever_… the brunette was actually shocked beyond words. Ron, of course, had anticipated all of this…

"Speaking of which," He leaned in as if to whisper something, but kept his voice perfectly audible to the entire crowd. "I stopped by the clinic this morning to get something checked out, and it turns out I've kinda got Herpes Simplex 2."

A series of gasps and muted chuckles rose up from the crowd as Ron took a step back and held up his hand.

"Now, I'm not necessarily saying _you_ gave it to me…" He advised, causing more students to start snickering and Bonnie's eyes to grow two times larger. "But considering I was clean two weeks ago… and with all that went on Friday night… you should probably get yourself checked out."

"You…" Bonnie tried to speak but was unable to get out more than one word.

"It's not a big deal really," Ron reassured the mortified teen. "They give you these pills," He pulled out an empty pill bottle that had been given to him years ago when he broke his arm. "And take 'em for a week or two and it just clears right up."

"You…"

"Oh and don't worry… the doc said if they catch it early, you shouldn't be left with too many embarrassing scars."

"You…"

"Don't worry Bon-Bon," Ron said, stepping back and wrapping his arm around her again. "We'll get through this… together."

By now everyone in the crowd knew what had just happened: Ron Stoppable, social outcast and goofy klutz, had just managed to publicly humiliate Bonnie Rockwaller.

As the crowd began to break into riotous laughter, Monique, who still had Kim's new phone in her hand, snapped a quick photo of the two: Bonnie, who had a look of absolute terror and humiliation, and Ron, who had a huge grin plastered on his face and was giving an energetic thumbs-up.

"You… **_ASSHOLE!_**" Bonnie finally managed to shriek.

With an exaggerated swing, the brunette landed a weakly executed slap to Ron's right cheek and ran off down the hall with the laughter of two-dozen students following.

"Aww!" Ron whined in a mockingly pitiful voice. "But you told me you loved me!"

After a few moments of laughter and cat-calls directed toward the now long-gone cheerleader the crowd slowly began to dissipate, leaving Kim, Ron, and Monique alone in front of the lockers.

"Well that was kinda fun!" Ron beamed.

"That…" Monique said quietly. "Was without a doubt… the _funniest_ thing I have ever seen!" She walked up and gave Ron a firm slap on the back. "Where on Earth did you come up with that?"

"Eh," The blond shrugged. "I saw it in a movie once."

"Boy, that was legendary!" Monique exclaimed. "I can guarantee you that by the end of the day _everyone_ will be talking about this! I wouldn't be surprised if _Bonnie_ is the one who doesn't show up tomorrow."

"Oh it was nothing, just something I thought up this morning on the way to school."

"Speaking of which," Kim interjected. "Where were you this morning?"

"Oh right," Ron said, as if he had suddenly remembered something important. "I stopped by the Middleton police station on the way to school and picked these applications up…" He opened his bag and pulled out two sheets of paper, both of which had already been filled out. "I hope you don't mind but I filled yours out already. All you need to do is sign it and I can drop 'em off today after class."

"What about cheer practice?" Kim asked as Ron handed her the application and a pen.

"Something tells me things might go smoother if the Mad Dog skips practice today." Ron said.

"Smoother?"

"Well, smoother for Bonnie at least…" Ron grinned.

---

- _**Middleton High Parking Lot** -_

After cheer practice ended, Kim changed back into her normal outfit and headed out into the student parking lot to meet up with Ron. Though he had planned to stop by the Middleton police department after class, Ron had assured her that he would be in the lot waiting when she got finished at four.

Though there were still several cars parked in the lot at that time, Ron's familiar blue scooter was nowhere to be found. She was just beginning to flash back to the cafeteria scene at lunch when her cell phone began to vibrate from inside her cargo pocket.

Half expecting it to be Ron calling to tell her he was running late, Kim flipped open the phone and brought it to her ear.

"Hello?" She greeted cheerfully.

"_Hi, is this Kim Possible?_" A heavy male voice asked.

"Um, yes…" Kim answered slightly hesitantly.

"_Kim, this is Chief Davis with the Middleton Police Department. How are you doing today?_" The voice answered in a deep, yet friendly tone.

"Oh, hi…" Kim replied, rather caught off guard. "I'm doing alright."

She had somewhat expected a quick reply given her name and reputation, but she never guessed she would be talking directly with the chief of police less than an hour after Ron had turned in their applications.

"_Well listen, I've got your application here in front of me and I wanted to set up a time for you to come in so we can talk about it._"

"Sure," Kim said. "I'd be glad to."

"_Do you think you could stop by the station tomorrow at some point?_" The chief asked.

"Okay, what time?" Kim asked.

"_You get out at 3:00, right?_"

"Actually," Kim corrected. "I get out of _class_ at 3:05… but then I have cheer practice immediately afterwards."

"_And what time does that usually go until?_"

"We usually finish around 4:00."

"_Four? All right, tell you what; why don't you just head on down tomorrow after your cheer practice? I work until five, so I should still be here by then. Sound like a plan?_"

Kim took a moment to check her mental calendar. Although Tuesdays were always family meatloaf night, that wasn't until at least six, so she had plenty of time in between.

"That works for me," Kim informed him. "I'll be in tomorrow around 4:30."

"_Sounds good to me,_" The chief replied. "_I'll see you then._"

The line clicked off a few seconds later.

"Well that was fast…" Kim thought aloud.

"What was fast?"

Kim turned and saw that Ron had pulled up while she was on the phone and was waiting for her at the curb.

"That was the chief," Kim informed her friend. "He wants me to come in and meet with him tomorrow after practice."

"Really? Cool…" Ron smiled. "Wait," His smile turned into a confused frown. "The chief of _what_?"


	4. Chapter 3

_First off, let me apologize for the horrendous amount of time it's taken me to update this story (2+ months... Jesus Christ!)_,_ I just relocated from Mendocino County to the San Francisco East Bay to pursue a job working with a much larger police department. These last two months have been torn between eighty-hour-a-week work shifts, and traveling six hours round-trip once a week to help get settled into my new department. Bottom line; I'm now settled in, working less hours (But getting more money), and slowly getting back into the swing of writing. _

_With that said... some reader responses: _

_Matri: Where'd I get the idea for_ _the Bonnie situation? Let's just say it's based on a true story... I was Ron... no further comment. _

_noveler00: Ron is going to have some regrets over that prank, he's also going to run into some trouble next chapter because of it. _

_Godhand's Number: I'm familiar with the standard law enforcement Explorer programs that many departments sponsor... rest assured; The Middleton PD's Cadet Program is **not **going to be like the Boy Scouts... you'll see what I mean in the next few chapters. _

_Daft Strangus: So what, cops can't be heroes too? _

_mattb3671: Done... _

_And for those of you who are still reading this story: thanks for your patience, and enjoy the show...__

* * *

_

**Chapter Three**

- _**Middleton High School**_ -  
(_Tuesday_)

It's funny how the tides of teenage gossip can sometimes switch direction literally overnight. What yesterday was considered a hot-topic, is today nothing more than old news…

On Monday morning the only thing worth talking about in the halls of Middleton High involved Kim Possible and her recent fall from "_teen-hero_" status. Such was made painfully clear to Kim herself as she walked those very halls and had to endure the penetrating stares and covert whispers of her fellow classmates.

But life -or more specifically, high school gossip- has an odd habit of shifting at the drop of a hat, and when she entered those very same halls Tuesday morning, Kim found that things had seemingly returned to normal… well, for _her_ at least.

That morning all anyone seemed to be talking about was what had happened to Bonnie the day before. Just in the short time it took Kim to reach her locker, she had overheard rumors ranging from the humorous, to the downright bizarre. It seemed like the _only_ thing any of them had in common was Ron and Bonnie's involvement.

Despite the overwhelming sense of relief Kim felt from her peers' change of venue in hallway gossip, she couldn't seem to fight off a nagging feeling of guilt and even pity for the brunette teen. While over ninety-eight percent of her mind was telling her that Ron's prank was completely justified and appropriate, there was still that two percent that kept asking the same question.

'_Was it really?_'

As the day wore on and the rumor-mill continued to turn out fresh lies, that two percent began to grow. Even Ron seemed to be a bit disturbed by the turn of events. This was evident in the fact that he seemed to skip most of the gloating that was customary to his personality in favor of a more subdued and even timid attitude.

By the end of the day the thought of what happened to Bonnie, coupled with her noticeable absence at cheer practice, was wearing so heavily on Kim that she completely forgot about her scheduled interview with Chief Davis. Fortunately Ron reminded her during a break in practice.

"You want me to go with?" he offered as they rested on the gym bleachers.

"Nah," Kim replied after a moment of thought. "He just wanted to talk to me today."

"Oh…" Ron said in a slightly dejected tone.

"Don't worry," she reassured her friend. "We're a team remember? They either take both of us, or it's an early retirement for Team Possible."

"Thanks KP," Ron smiled.

"No big."

---

- _**Middleton Police Department**_ –

Since she didn't want to make a bad first-impression by being late to her interview, Kim made sure to wrap-up practice at exactly four o'clock so she would have plenty of time to walk to the police station from school. With Bonnie still nowhere to be found, she didn't get any arguments from the squad and was on her way out the door five minutes later.

Since the station was only a quarter-mile from school she made much better time than she had expected and walked through the front door of the Middleton Police Department at 4:20pm.

Even though she and Ron had handled more than a few missions that required the help of the Middleton Police, Kim had never actually been _inside_ the police station. From the outside, it was nothing more than a simple one-story building nestled on the leg of a small business complex. There was a small parking lot at the front of the building that wrapped around to the back, which was where Kim surmised they parked their patrol cars since she could see none out front.

As she walked through the front door into the lobby, Kim realized that it wasn't as intimidating as she had expected a police station to be. On TV, the front lobby of a police station always seemed to be barren and uninviting; with a large oak desk in the center of a waxed-tile floor and a gruff-looking desk sergeant glaring down at whoever walked through the front door.

In reality, however, the front lobby of the Middleton Police Department looked more like the lobby in a doctor's office… only without the year-old _People_ magazines. There were about a half-dozen chairs lined against the window facing a chest-level counter that separated the civilians who came in from the officers on the other side.

Behind the counter was a bookshelf containing what Kim could only guess were law-related publications, an open door that appeared to lead into the back of the station, and a standard office-style wooden desk behind which sat a young woman in a light-colored skirt and blouse who seemed to be more interested in her game of internet poker than intimidating anyone who entered the building.

The only way Kim was even sure she had the right place was from a series of police-related photos and posters hanging on the walls. Most notable among them was a large framed picture with the title **Law Enforcement Code of Ethics**. Below it was enscribed:

_**As a Law Enforcement Officer, my fundamental duty is to service mankind; to safeguard lives and property; to protect the innocent against deception, the weak against oppression or intimidation, and the peaceful against violence or disorder; and to respect the Constitutional rights of all men to liberty, equality and justice.**_

_**I will keep my private life unsullied as an example to all; maintain courageous calm in the face of danger, scorn or ridicule; develop self-restraint; and be constantly mindful of the welfare of others. Honest in thought and deed both in my personal and official life, I will be exemplary in obeying the laws of the land and the regulations of my Department. Whatever I see or hear of a confidential nature or is confided to me in my official capacity will be kept ever secret unless revelation is necessary in the performance of my duties.**_

_**I will never act officiously or permit personal feelings, prejudices, animosities or friendships to influence my decisions. With no compromise for crime and with relentless prosecution of criminals, I will enforce the laws courteously and appropriately without fear or favor, malice or ill will, never employing unnecessary force or violence and never accepting gratuities.**_

_**I recognize the badge of my office as a symbol of public faith, and I accept it as a public trust to be held so long as I am true to the ethics of police service. I will constantly strive to achieve these objectives and ideals, dedicating myself before God to my chosen profession... law enforcement.**_

"Can I help you?" A female voice asked.

Looking away from the picture, Kim saw the woman behind the desk looking over at her. "Hi," she greeted. "My name's Kim Possible, I'm here to meet with Chief Davis."

"Oh yeah," the woman replied cheerfully. "He said you were coming by." She stood up from her desk and walked to the counter. "My name's Cathy, I'm the Assistant to the Chief."

"Nice to meet you Cathy," Kim smiled, shaking the woman's hand. "Sorry if I'm too early."

"That's no problem. Unfortunately the Chief had a last minute Town Council meeting to go to, so he probably won't be back today, but our Cadet Lieutenant is on his way in to meet with you."

As if on cue, Kim heard a door somewhere in the back of the station open and close and the sound of heavy footsteps and creaking leather coming toward them.

"_25-Q-5, copy your MDC traffic; 10-7S._" The sound of the police dispatcher drifted through the door as a surprisingly familiar face entered the room.

Kim knew she had seen the Lieutenant before… but not as a cop. He was slightly over six feet tall, had a strong, but not overly muscular build with dark-brown hair, which he wore combed forward like Ron's, only shorter.

After a few seconds Kim finally remembered where she knew the guy from; he was a senior at Middleton High. She vaguely remembered his first name was Peter, but she wasn't sure of the last.

"Here you go Cathy," he announced, walking over and dropping a small stack of paperwork on the woman's desk. "The DA is refusing to file on Ruiz's 488."

"No surprise there," Cathy grumbled, walking back to her desk and tossing the paperwork next to her in-box. "You get that meth to the lab like Hobble wanted?"

"Most of it…" he joked, sitting on the edge of the desk and leaning back against the wall.

"Good," Cathy replied before gesturing toward Kim. "One of our new Cadets is here. The Chief wanted you to give her the rundown and figure out when she and her partner can start working."

"_She's_ our new cadet?" the teen asked, looking from Kim to Cathy in surprised disbelief.

"Her _and_ her partner," Cathy replied with a grin.

"Well I'll be damned," he chuckled, walking over to the counter. "Name's Peter Haas," he greeted, enthusiastically pumping her hand. "I'm the Cadet Lieutenant." Then with a slight smirk, he added, "I'm also your new boss."

---

Following Peter into the back of the station, Kim found that the rest of the Middleton Police Department was just as ordinary and un-intimidating as the front office had been. The door that Peter had first walked through to get into the front office led to an _L_ shaped hallway, which then led to the rest of the station.

To the right, Haas informed her, was the backdoor, the booking room, and the computer room. To the left, which was the direction he led her, was the Chief's office, a bathroom, a kitchen/break room which had a big screen TV and a large oak table covered with various magazines and newspapers, a closed door labeled _Equipment_, a small co-ed locker room, and a small room Peter informed her was the patrol office as he entered it.

The patrol office had three desks lining the front and back wall, and a file cabinet with various names printed on each drawer. There was also a large whiteboard against the front wall, which was divided into three sections labeled _Beat Info_, _BOLO/Ofc. Safety_, and _Jokes/Misc_.

Each of the three desks had a computer in front of it and there was a uniformed police officer that Kim guessed to be in his mid-twenties sitting at the corner desk typing up a report of some kind.

"Get off the porn Ruiz," Peter teased as he gestured for Kim to take a seat and sat down across from the other officer.

"You're confusing me with you again bro," Ruiz shot back in a lightly accented voice.

"Hey," Peter said, reaching over and tapping him on the back. "Meet our new Cadet."

Ruiz spun around in his chair and, seeing who was sitting across the room from him, quickly did a double take. "No way… is that who I think it is?"

"Sure is," Peter said, grinning like a guy who was showing off his new sports car.

"Dude that's impossible," Ruiz said, turning his gaze toward Kim. "I thought you were working for Global Justice or something?"

"Actually, it's Kim Possible," Kim said proudly. "And I don't work for Global Justice anymore."

"Never did," Peter corrected. "Weren't you mostly freelancing until the UN shut you down?"

"Yeah," Kim replied with a detectable level of resentment.

"Oh well, local's better than federal anyway," Ruiz noted as he shook Kim's hand. "I'm Officer Ruiz Segovia, nice to be working with you."

"Thanks, same here," she replied.

"Ruiz is one of our swing-shift officers," Peter explained. "There's always two beat officers on duty during day, swing, and graveyard. The other beat officer on swing is David Brown. He's on a call right now, but you'll meet him eventually."

"Um, I know this is a ferociously dumb question to be asking," Kim said nervously. "But I take it I got the job, right?"

"If you want it."

"And my friend Ron?"

"If _he_ wants it."

"Ok…" Kim said hesitantly.

"Something wrong?" Ruiz asked.

"No," Kim assured them. "I just… didn't expect to get hired on the spot like this."

"No kidding," Peter chuckled. "Took 'em almost four months to hire _me_. But then, I didn't have this…" He opened the file cabinet drawer and pulled out two three-inch-thick manila folders with Global Justice insignias on them.

Glancing at the files on the desk in front of her, Kim saw that they were labeled _Kimberly A. Possible_ and _Ronald D. Stoppable_. They had **CONFIDENTIAL** stamped across the cover in red letters.

"What are these?" Kim asked, eyeing the top folder with her name on it.

"Global Justice Personnel files," Peter informed her. "Those things told us more about you two than any interview could have. You can take a look if you want, it's a bit creepy how detailed they are."

Creepy, as it turned out, was an understatement. Just the first page of the report was more than Kim was comfortable reading. It started off with the normal info…

**Name** – Kimberly Ann Possible  
**DOB** – 01/17/1988  
**Age** – 15  
**Sex** - Female

Then it started getting a bit invasive, with family information like…

**Parents** – Dr.'s James Timothy Possible (_43_) and Andrea Kathryn Possible (_42_)  
**Siblings** – James Michael Possible (_10_) and Timothy Edward Possible (_10_) _Twins  
_**Marital Status** – Single

Finally there were several things that made her downright uncomfortable to see written on paper…

**Boyfriend** – Ronald D. Stoppable _Unverified  
_**Sexual Status** – Virgin _Unverified  
_**Vices** – _See Pg. 3_

"This is just available for anyone to look at?" Kim gasped.

"Not everyone," Ruiz reassured her. "That's for law enforcement and government only."

"And it's only released with the authorization of the GJ Director," Peter added.

"It's still a bit more than I want someone reading," Kim muttered bitterly.

"Nothing's a secret in this business Kim," Peter explained. "No info is beyond our grasp if we know how and where to get it."

"True that," said Ruiz.

"So," Peter said, leaning back in his chair. "Assuming we haven't scared you away already; do you and Stoppable want the job?"

"Yeah, sure," Kim nodded.

"Yes _Sir_?" Peter asked.

"Yes sir," Kim corrected.

"No, did you say '_yes sir_'?" Peter asked, giving her a scrutinizing glare.

"I think she said '_yeah, sure_'," Ruiz commented with a small grin.

"Well, I said '_yeah sure_'," Kim explained nervously. "But that's just because…" She trailed off as Ruiz and Peter began laughing and gave each other a high-five. "I don't get it." Kim sighed.

"You've never seen _Super Troopers_?" Ruiz asked with a chuckle.

Kim shook her head.

"You poor depraved girl," he said, shaking his head with pity. "You wanna be a cop you gotta love _Super Troopers_."

"That is a fact," Peter affirmed. "But all joking aside, do you actually know what this Cadet Program is all about?"

"I've got a pretty good idea from what I read on the application," Kim answered. "We serve as support for the patrol officers and provide auxiliary assistance to the general public when needed, right?"

Peter and Ruiz both looked at each other and shrugged.

"Uh… sure," Peter replied hesitantly. "I guess that's kinda what I do, right Sego?"

"_Pfft_," Ruiz scoffed. "Hell if I know bro. Seems like you get to do more than me most of the time."

"_Officially_ that's what Cadets do," Peter said, turning back to Kim. "You'll figure out all the specifics once you hit the street." He got up from his chair and once again offered Kim his hand. "Welcome to the Middleton Police Department… Cadet Possible."


	5. Chapter 4

_**Author's Note:** Alright, it only took me about a month to update this time! Still not an ideal time-frame, but considering I managed to post three chapters for two of my other stories during that month, I guess it's not that bad. _

_Anyway, as always my greatest thanks to captainkodak1, noveler00, mattb3671, Godhand's Number, Ezbok58a, cl, Zoko, and continental-line for taking the time to review this story. And thanks to everyone else who has taken the time to read it. _

_In response to Zoko and continental-line's question/comments, Kim and Ron are applying to be police cadets, not police officers. Many American police departments have similar programs _(Usually called Explorer Programs)_ aimed toward high school students interested in a career in law enforcement. In most of those departments, Explorers are a lot like Boy Scouts; they meet once or twice a month, usually to cover a specific topic_ _such as laying flair patterns, directing traffic,handcuffing suspects, etc, and_ _get to periodically ride-along with officers while they patrol the streets. Typically, these Explorer Scouts are kept away from the front-lines and are rarely in any real danger. _

_The Cadet Program that the Middleton Police Department runs, however, is going to be quite a bit different than the traditional Explorer Programs run by most other agencies. Since Middleton is a small town, cadets are utilized in more of a Reserve capacity; providing additional support to officers on the street by responding to non-threatening calls-for-service, enforcing parking, conducting security checks on parks, schools, and businesses after-hours, and generally providing any other assistance that the normal patrol officers request. Though it's not the department's intent, cadets are much more likely to get involved in a dangerous situation than an Explorer is. _

_One final comment I want to make before I get on with the story - this chapter is going to contain some _'police vernacular_' that most of you are probably not going to understand. Don't worry, that's intentional and shouldn't detract from the scene as a whole... my goal with doing this is to put you directly into Kim and Ron's shoes; at this point in the story they have no idea what's being said over the police radio either, so they're just as confused as you may be. _

_Having said all that, enjoy chapter 4...__

* * *

_

**Chapter Four**

- **_Middleton High School_ **-  
(_Tuesday_)

While Kim was finishing up her interview at the Middleton Police Department, back at Middleton High the halls were nearly devoid of life. All of the various clubs and sports teams that met after school had long since ended, and their members had left for the day. In C Hall, the only noise that could be heard – besides the whine of the aging heating system – was the lonely echo of footsteps as Ron slowly made his way to his hall locker. Cheer practice had ended almost an hour before, and in the time since all the teen had managed to do was wander the various halls deep in thought.

First and foremost on his mind was Kim's interview with the chief of police. He hadn't really thought about it before, but if they didn't get the job with the Middleton Police, that was it; there _was_ nothing else… at least nothing that even remotely resembled what they had been doing. As Kim had said earlier; it was either work for Middleton PD, or take an early retirement.

The other thing that was gnawing heavily at his normally upbeat disposition was the recollection of what he had done to Bonnie the day before.

For three years Ron had endured almost daily insults from the brunette-haired cheerleader and always turned the other cheek. Then, when he finally got a sliver of revenge, protected Kim from doing something she would regret, and put Bonnie in her place without lifting a finger in violence, what happened? He felt sorry for Bonnie and guilty for embarrassing her.

Reaching his locker and opening the door, Ron let out a frustrated sigh as he pulled Rufus from his pocket; placing him on the ledge of the opened locker where the molerat immediately dove into a half-empty bag of _Doritos_ chips.

"What do you think, Rufus?" he asked his rodent friend.

Rufus popped out of the bag and tilted his head in confusion.

"Do you think I went too far yesterday?"

The molerat shrugged his shoulders and offered Ron a half eaten tortilla chip from the bag he was sitting in.

"No thanks buddy," Ron sighed again. "Let's just get out of here and-"

"Hey Stoppable!" a deep voice called out from behind them.

Reluctantly Ron turned and found Brick Flagg, Neil Fenster, and Doug Reilly standing shoulder-to-shoulder behind him in the empty hallway. He had been expecting some type of run-in with Brick due to his relationship with Bonnie, but Neil and Doug were a bit of a surprise. While Brick was on the JV football team, Neil and Doug were both seniors and Varsity football all-stars.

"H-hey Brick," Ron greeted nervously. "What're you guys doing here?"

Brick glanced up and down the empty hallway and casually replied, "Looking for you dude."

"Oh really, am I _that_ important all of a sudden?" Ron asked, forcing a small chuckle.

"We heard a rumor that you said something to my buddy's girlfriend," Neil said, gesturing toward Brick.

"Yeah man," Doug spoke up. "Apparently you told everyone she gave you an STD last weekend. What's with that dude?"

"Hey look," Ron replied defensively. "It… it was just a little joke. See, Bonnie was teasing Kim about something and-"

"So since when do _you_ fight Possible's battles loser?" Brick interrupted, taking a few steps toward the nervous teen.

"No, that's not… she's just… and then there was the crowd, and… and… it's kinda complicated."

"Complicated huh? Well then why don't you come with us so we can talk about it," Brick said, giving his buddies a discreet nod.

"Oh hey, y'know actually I _really_ need to-"

"That _wasn't_ an offer Stoppable," Doug growled, stepping forward and grabbing the front of Ron's red jersey. "Let's go!"

As they shoved him forward toward the door to the locker room, Ron's cell phone fell out of his pocket and skidded to a stop under a row of hall lockers.

---

- **_Middleton Police Department_** -

"So what's your schedule like on Friday afternoons?" Peter asked Kim as he escorted her back out to the station parking lot. "Do you still have cheer practice, or do you take a break for the weekend?"

"No, not usually," Kim replied, squinting slightly from the mid-afternoon Sun's glare and fishing her cell phone from her pocket. "I let the squad have Friday afternoons off unless there's a game or competition that weekend."

"How 'bout Ron?"

"We've pretty much got identical schedules," she informed him. "School and otherwise."

"Must be nice," Haas commented. "So you two are good to go this Friday after school then?"

"Sure," she replied.

"Cool." He glanced from the cell phone in Kim's hand to the empty parking lot and back. "You got someone coming to pick you up, or do you need a ride?"

"Nah," Kim replied, flipping her phone open and dialing up her friend's number. "Ron's waiting at school to come pick me up. Thanks for the offer though." She hit the connect button and brought the phone up to her ear, waiting as it rang several times.

"_Hello?_" Ron's voice echoed through the receiver.

"Hey Ron it's me," Kim greeted. "I just wanted to-"

"_Nah, I'm just messin' with ya,_" Ron's voice interrupted. "_You got my voicemail. I'm either out saving the world, or stuck in this 21st century internment camp known as high school. So leave a message at the beep and I'll call you back…_" The line grew quiet for a few seconds before Kim could hear Ron's voice speak up once again, though slightly fainter, as if he was no longer speaking into the receiver. "_…okay, now which button do I push to save this recording? Hey Rufus, which button do I push to save my voicemail recording? Push the pound key? There **is** no pound key… what's a pound key? There's a star key and a tic-tac-toe key but no-_"

_**-Beep-**_

"Um, hey Ron," Kim said in a slightly baffled tone. "Uh… just calling to let you know that I'm finished with my interview and ready for you to swing by… uh, give me a call when you get this message." She pulled the phone away from her ear for a moment to glance at the clock. "It's 4:51… give me a call… bye." She closed her phone slowly and stood staring at the small device for several seconds.

"Something wrong?" a voice asked behind her.

Kim turned and discovered that Peter was still standing a few feet away from her, polishing his sunglasses with a small hand cloth and leaning casually against the wall of the building.

"Um, no… it's fine," she replied in a tone that was clearly lacking sincerity.

"Doesn't sound fine," the teen noted casually.

"It's nothing," Kim insisted, trying more to reassure herself than her boss. "It's just I've… I've _never_ gotten his voicemail before."

"He usually answers?"

"He _always_ answers," Kim replied adamantly. "In class, on missions, in movie theaters… we even got into a huge fight a few months ago after I discovered he answered my call while in the _bathroom_! I had to get my mom to wipe my Kimmunicator down with rubbing alcohol before I would touch it again!"

"You think he's in trouble?" Peter asked, still leaning casually against the side of the building.

"I… I don't know," she replied nervously.

"Where'd you see him last?"

"At school," Kim answered. "He was going to hang out there until I called him for a ride. He _knew_ I'd be calling around this time."

With a small sigh, Peter donned his _Ray-Ban_'s and pushed himself off the wall. "Alright," he said with a hint of annoyance. "Let's go find him…"

---

A few minutes later, Kim was sitting nervously in the passenger seat of a Middleton Police Ford Explorer staring out the window in the direction of the high school.

Despite Ron's somewhat random personality, there were a small handful of things that Kim could always count on from her friend. First and foremost on that list was his availability.

Ron was _never_ out of contact for even the smallest amount of time. It was a trait that Kim had always depended on whenever Wade gave her a mission. Even if it was in the middle of the night, she always knew Ron would answer. He'd be half-asleep, but he'd still answer.

Glancing across the interior of the patrol car, Kim noticed that Peter was still retaining his casual attitude over the situation. The Cadet Lieutenant had his left arm draped indolently over the steering wheel and was typing something on the small laptop-style computer mounted between their seats.

After about twenty seconds of typing, he leaned back and hit the '_Enter_' button. The computer let out a diminutive ring in response and opened up a new window with information that Kim couldn't decipher.

"What was that you just did?" she asked, trying to quell the apprehension that was audible in her voice.

"Just letting dispatch know what we're up to," Peter replied.

Before Kim could ask him to elaborate, the police radio mounted in the console between their seats came to life.

"_25-Q-5, copy your MDC traffic; out on portable, code 6… Middleton High School,_" the female dispatcher casually stated.

"Is she talking to you?" Kim asked.

"Yup, just relaying what I already typed in," Peter replied, pointing to the computer. "This is called a Mobile Data Console or MDC. Once you can figure out how to use it, you can do everything dispatch does; self-initiate or clear a call, run a check on a vehicle, person, or gun, and type messages back-and-forth between other officers."

"_25-Q-5, are you gonna be code 4 on your code 6?_" the dispatcher asked.

"What's a code 6?" Kim asked.

"Out for investigation," Peter replied, unhooking the radio mic from its mount on the dashboard and bringing it up to his face. "25-Q-5, no status… I'll advise when code 4," he informed dispatch before re-holstering the mic and guiding the cruiser into the back parking lot of the high school.

"_Q-5 copy; will advise._"

"There's his scooter!" Kim shouted, pointing to Ron's beat-up blue scooter which was still parked next to the bike-rack in front of the school.

"Alright, calm down," Peter urged the near-frantic teen. "I'll check the gym, boy's locker room, and boy's bathrooms. You look everywhere else you think he may be." He reached behind into a duffle bag on the back seat and pulled out a second radio that was identical to the one holstered on his duty-belt. "Take this with you," he ordered. "If you need me, push the button and say '_car-to-car, 25-Q-5 go to TAC 2_'. Then turn the knob there to channel 6 and say whatever you need to say; you don't have to worry about the radio codes."

"Car-to-car, 25-Q-5 go to Talk 2… got it," Kim repeated before turning and running into the school.

Removing his sunglasses, Peter shook his head regretfully and followed Kim into the building, mumbling something about _Ritalin_ and too much caffeine.

---

- **_Boy's Locker Room_** -

"I asked you a question Stoppable!" Brick hissed, releasing his grip on the front of Ron's collar. He watched with satisfaction as the dazed and battered teen fell back against the gym locker and slid down onto the concrete ledge that ran the length of the locker isle.

"I guess he's got a problem hearing," Doug noted, standing behind the quarterback with his arms folded across his chest.

"Or maybe he's trying to be funny again," Neil suggested.

Brick turned back to Ron and glared down at the helpless teen. "Is that true?" he asked, cracking his knuckles. "Are you trying to be funny again loser?"

"N-no," Ron muttered. He tried to keep his left eye open, but the swelling from the beating they had given him earlier was making the task difficult. "I was just-"

"Then answer me!" he roared. "Why'd you insult my girlfriend in front of all those people?"

"I was…" Ron trailed off.

"You were what?"

"I…"

"Answer me!"

"**_I was trying to protect Kim!_**"

Neil and Doug both cackled and shook their heads in disgust.

"Is that so?" Brick asked quietly. "Well it's too bad she's not here to return the favor."

As the jock brought his fist back for another punch, Ron closed his good eye and prepared for the inevitable pain that he was sure to receive.

Instead he heard Brick cry-out in pain…

---

- **_A Hall_** -

Across campus from the boy's locker room, Kim was hurriedly making her way down the empty hallway looking room-to-room for signs of Ron. She'd already checked every place she thought she may find him – plus several places she knew she wouldn't find him – but had turned up no sign of her friend. She _had_ found a small group of students studying in the library, but none of them knew – or cared – where Ron was.

Just as she was about to exit the hallway and head back into the cafeteria, Kim caught sight of someone exiting the girl's bathroom out of the corner of her eye. Spinning around, she saw a familiar blonde-haired teen walking toward the other end of the hallway with her backpack slung over her shoulder.

"Tara!" Kim shouted, drawing the girl's attention.

Caught off guard, Tara yelped and jumped slightly. She turned around and saw Kim standing in front of the cafeteria doors with a 2-way radio in her left hand and a very worried look on her face.

"Jeez Kim, you scared me!" Tara scolded her squad captain. "How'd your job interview go at the hospital?"

"My what?" Kim asked, confused.

After a few seconds she remembered she'd told the other girls on the squad that she was interviewing for a part-time intern position at the Medical Center. She'd had to give them _some_ reason for cutting practice so quickly, and for some reason she didn't feel comfortable telling them she was interviewing for a job with the local police.

"Didn't you have that intern interview thing today?" Tara asked again.

"Oh yeah, it was fine," Kim replied dismissively. "Have you seen Ron around here?"

"Yeah sure," the blonde replied. "I saw him about five minutes ago."

"Where?"

Tara turned around and pointed toward the other side of the school. "He was with Brick and his friends over near C Hall," she said.

"He was with _Brick_?" Kim asked suspiciously.

"Uh-huh," Tara nodded. "He, Brick, Doug, and Neil looked like they were all going somewhere."

"_25-K9-1, copy your 11-95 at Rheem and Grove… code 4 via MDC,_" Kim's radio squelched.

"Hey is that a police radio?" Tara asked, pointing to the _Motorola_ in Kim's hand.

"Uh, yeah."

"Cool, what're they saying?"

"I don't know," she replied curtly. "Look, did you see where they were going?"

Tara opened her mouth to answer, but the radio beat her to it…

"_Car-to-car; Possible, go to TAC 2!_" Peter's urgent voice came through.

"Now what're they saying?" Tara asked.

Ignoring her friend, Kim switched the knob on the top of the radio to '_6_' and hit the talk button.

"This is Kim on Talk 2," Kim replied.

"_Boy's locker room, code 3!_" Peter replied.

Kim had no idea what '_code 3_' meant, but the boy's locker room was right next to C Hall, where Tara had seen Ron with Brick.

"Is something wrong, Kim?" Tara asked apprehensively.

"Find Mr. Barkin and tell him to get to the boy's locker room!" Kim replied, shoving the radio into her pocket and turning to leave.

"Why, what's going on?" Tara asked. "Is Ron in trouble?"

"Just do it!" Kim ordered.

Tara nodded timidly and ran off in the direction of the main office. As soon as she was gone, Kim ran out the door and headed toward the boy's locker room.

---

- **_Boy's Locker Room_** -

As Kim rounded the corner and entered the boy's locker room, she had no idea what she was going to find. She knew Brick was dating Bonnie, so obviously any contact he made with Ron was not going to be on friendly terms. Her only hope was that Brick hadn't done anything too rough.

"Ron?" Kim yelled as she entered the concrete room and gazed out over row-after-row of metal gym lockers.

"Over here!" Peter's voice called-out from a few rows down.

As Kim ran over and entered the isle she had heard Peter call out from, she was suddenly stopped dead in her tracks. In the center of the locker isle was Ron, Brick, Peter, Doug, and Neil…

Ron was sitting closest to her with a slightly dazed look on his face. The collar of his jersey was torn slightly and there was a small amount of blood running down the front of it. His nose was bloodied and there was a bruise beginning to form around his left eye, but aside from that he didn't appear to be in too much pain.

The same could _not_ be said for Brick…

Brick and Peter were both on the ground in front of Ron. Brick was laying face-down on the cold and dirty floor groaning in pain with Peter kneeling on top of him. The Lieutenant had his left knee jammed against the back of the jock's neck and was holding his wrist behind his back in a position that looked to Kim like something straight out of _COPS_. Neil and Doug were both standing at the end of the isle watching in horror as their friend was pinned to the ground by the uniformed cadet.

"Ow, you're breaking my friggin arm, man!" Brick moaned in pain.

"Shut up and put your other hand on the back of your head!" Peter hissed.

Brick tried one more time to wrestle free of Peter's grasp, but the cadet tweaked his thumb back against his arm, eliciting a louder yelp from the quarterback. Finally he did as instructed, bringing his free arm back and placing his hand on top of his head.

Reaching behind, Peter pulled a pair of handcuffs from the back of his duty-belt and snapped them around Brick's wrists. Once his hands were securely fastened behind his back, he yanked Brick upright and sat him down across the isle from Ron.

"_25-Q-5 update your status!_" the radio mic on his shoulder squelched.

"25-Q-5, I'm code 4 for now; one detained for 243. We're gonna be in the boy's locker room, advise 25-K9-1 and have him continue code 1," Peter replied into the mic.

"_25-Q-5 copy, code 4 for now; requesting K9-1 to continue code 1,_" the dispatcher replied."_25-K9-1 do you copy?_"

"_25-K9-1 copies, I'm about three out,_" Ruiz's voice replied.

Kim was about to ask what was going on when the back door of the locker room burst open and Mr. Barkin came charging in with Tara trailing close behind. The administrator took a moment to survey the scene in front of him; taking note of Ron's battered appearance, the look of pain on Brick's face, and Peter standing behind him in a police uniform.

"Alright," Barkin said to no one in particular. "I want an explanation for what's going on here!"

"That makes two of us," Kim muttered.

---

- **_Principal's Office_** -

"Look," Ron sighed, readjusting the icepack on his eye and glancing back-and-forth from Peter to Mr. Barkin. "I understand you guys feel a need to follow procedure on this, but I really don't see a need to drag this out."

Having brought order to the situation, Mr. Barkin had relocated everyone to his office to figure out what was going to be done. Since Neil and Doug hadn't actually taken part in beating-up Ron, Peter had decided to let them leave with the understanding that Barkin would deal with them the next day.

Mr. Barkin was seated at his desk overlooking the other five teens. Ron was seated on the other side of the desk next to Kim, and Peter was standing against the wall watching Brick; who was still handcuffed and sitting on a bench next to the door. Tara was standing at the rear of the room watching Ron with a look of concern in her eyes.

"I don't think you understand how serious this is, Ron," Peter said. "With Brick's physical conditioning, he could have seriously injured you had I not been there to intervene. Based on what I witnessed, you have every right to press charges against him for misdemeanor battery."

"Just because I have the right doesn't mean I have to use it," Ron replied defensively.

"I'm afraid I'm going to have to agree with Haas on this, Stoppable," Barkin interjected. "This isn't the type of thing you should turn the other cheek about."

"I wasn't gonna do anything too bad to him," Brick informed all of them. "I was just trying to teach him a lesson!"

"Shut the Hell up until I tell you to speak!" Peter snapped.

"Watch your language, Haas," Barkin ordered.

Peter opened his mouth to respond, but was interrupted by Ruiz, who opened the office door and strolled into the room.

"I just got off the phone with the District Attorney's office," the officer announced, tucking his cell phone into his bulletproof vest and glancing down at Ron. "They're willing to file a complaint against this guy if you wanna press charges dude."

"I don't want to press charges," Ron replied quietly.

"Ron-" Kim spoke up.

"I _don't_ want to press charges," Ron repeated. "It's all over, there's no reason to blow this out of proportion."

"You sure about this, bro?" Ruiz asked.

Ron nodded.

"Looks like you don't have to go to jail today, Brick," Peter announced condescendingly. "Stand up and turn around."

Brick did as he was ordered and Peter removed and re-holstered the handcuffs.

"Stoppable may have been compassionate enough to turn the other cheek on this matter," Mr. Barkin announced as Brick started toward the door. "But I am not. Consider yourself suspended from school for the next two weeks. I'm also removing you from all extra-curricular activities for the duration of the school year."

"You're _what_?" Brick gasped, spinning around and staring wide-eyed at the administrator. "But that means I can't play football anymore! That's not fair, Mr. Barkin!"

"You're right, that's not fair," Ruiz agreed. "Hooking you up and sending you to Juvenile Hall would be fair. You're getting off easy in my opinion."

Brick glared at the occupants of the room before turning and storming out of the room. Ron and Tara both jumped slightly as the office door slammed shut behind him.

"Can we please go home now, Mr. Barkin?" Kim asked after a moment of silence.

"I believe we're done here," Barkin stated, glancing up at Ruiz. "Do you need anything else from them, Officer?"

Ruiz pocketed his notebook and shook his head. "Nope, I'm good to go," he announced, looking over at Peter. "You wanna give 'em a ride home?"

"Sure," Peter nodded. "You wanna take the report on this?"

"Nice try," Ruiz laughed. "But I think I'll let you draw the DR for this one."

"Damnit," Peter grumbled.

---

"What are we gonna do about my scooter?" Ron asked when they got out to where Peter and Ruiz had parked their patrol cars. "I don't feel like riding it home right now, but I don't wanna leave it here over night either."

"We should be able to fit it in the back of the Exploder," Peter replied. "You wanna give me a hand, Sego?"

"Yeah, just a sec," Ruiz replied, opening the trunk of his car and retrieving a leather dog leash from his bag. "Let me just water Max first."

"Max?" Kim asked. "Who's Max?"

"My partner," Ruiz grinned, opening the back door of his cruiser.

Kim and Ron both jumped back slightly as a very large and excited German Sheppard flew out of the car and ran over to them. Looking up at Ron, the canine barked and shifted back-and-forth like a puppy waiting to play fetch.

"Kim, Ron, meet Officer Max," Peter announced.

Though Ron and Kim said nothing, Rufus popped out of Ron's pocket and waved, giving the dog a friendly "_Hi_". Max sniffed the molerat a few times before barking again and wagging his tail approvingly.

"Max, komm heir!" Ruiz ordered.

The dog turned and ran back to his owner, who pulled a bundled-up sock from under his shirt and tossed it out onto the soccer field for Max to fetch.

"Can you give me a hand with the bike, Kim?" Peter asked, wheeling the scooter over to the back of the Explorer and opening the door.

"Sure," Kim nodded. She grabbed the basket on the front of the bike and helped lay the scooter on top of the equipment in the cargo bed of the SUV.

Closing the door, Peter walked around to the passenger side of the cruiser where Ron was sitting with his head resting against the headrest.

"You sure you don't need to go to the hospital, man?" the cadet asked, taking note of the discoloration around the teen's left eye. "You don't look so good?"

"It's not as bad as it looks," Ron reassured him. "Other than a splitting headache it's not that bad."

"If you can drop us both off at my place I'll have my mom check him out," Kim offered. "Just to make sure he's alright."

"Sure, hop in."

---

- **_Possible Residence_** -

Once she got home, Kim brought Ron into the kitchen and sat him down at the table so her mom could take a look at his wounds. Peter, meanwhile, was standing near the doorway pretending not to notice the disapproving look Mr. Possible was giving him.

"Well," Mrs. Possible announced, checking Ron's pupils for signs of trauma. "Aside from the black eye I don't see any serious damage. Your nose isn't broken either, though I can imagine it probably hurts quite a bit."

"It's not that bad," Ron reassured the worried doctor. "I don't think Brick's punches killed too many brain cells," he joked.

Andrea nodded and turned toward Peter. "It's a good thing you found Ron when you did, someone with that boy's strength can do a lot of damage."

"Fear not Mrs. Dr. P, it's nothing your home-made meatloaf can't heal," Ron announced.

"I suppose that means you'll be staying for dinner then," Andrea said, pretending to be surprised.

"Has the Ronster ever missed meatloaf night?" Ron asked innocently.

"Are you going to be staying as well?" the surgeon asked, looking over at Peter.

"Thanks, but I'm meeting my girlfriend for dinner in about thirty minutes," he replied, turning toward Kim and Ron. "Take care of that bruise Ron, and I'll see you guys Friday afternoon."

"See ya later," Ron waved as the teen walked out the door and headed toward his cruiser. Once he was gone Ron turned to Kim and asked, "So, how'd your interview go?"

Kim and her mom both smiled and rolled their eyes.


	6. Chapter 5

_**Author's Note:** Before we get on with the story, I just wanted to mention a few things... _

_First, thank you once again to all the readers who took the time to leave a review for this story. Now that this site has their new reply feature, I can send an individual response to anyone who leaves a signed review. So if you log-in before you leave a review, I'll probably be able to send you a reply. _

_Second, I'm probably going to be taking a short break on this story so that I can get a few chapters out on my other two active stories. I'd love to get **KP: Bailout** finished, or at least updated with a few new chapters. If you are enjoying this story, I recommend you put it on your '_Story Alert_' list, that way you'll know when the next chapter comes out... it's probably gonna be a long one. _

_Finally, I completely forgot to mention this last chapter, but fellow KP author/artist Eddie Butler III designed an awesome title shot for this story a while back. If you want to see it, you can access it from the link on my '_Personal Profile_' page. _

_And with that, here's chapter five; Kim and Ron's baptism of fire... __

* * *

_

**Chapter Five**

- **_Possible Residence_** -  
(_Tuesday Evening_)

That evening, most of the conversation at the dinner table was centered on Kim and Ron's newly acquired jobs as police cadets. The teens were sitting next to each other opposite Jim and Tim while James and Andrea sat at either end of the table. Both parents listened intently as Kim fielded question after question from her brothers.

"So do you get a gun?" Tim asked, looking across the kitchen table at his sister and Ron.

"No, we don't get a gun," Kim replied, slowly growing irritated with her brothers' questions. "We're just cadets, not police officers."

"Well, what about a Billy Club, do you get one of those?" Jim spoke up.

"Or how about mace," Tim added. "Do you get mace?"

"I don't know," Kim shrugged. "I doubt it."

"That bites," Tim grumbled.

"I think we get to carry handcuffs," Ron said before stabbing a piece of meatloaf with his fork and shoving it in his mouth.

"So," Jim scoffed. "Handcuffs aren't that impressive."

"Yeah," Tim agreed. "That creepy Goth kid in our PE class has like, three pairs that he carries around."

"Now boys, what type of gear they get to carry doesn't matter," Andrea scolded. "It's the privilege and responsibility of wearing the uniform that's important."

"Tell that to the suspect," Jim replied under his breath.

Ignoring her son's remark, Andrea turned back toward Kim and Ron and gave them a proud smile. "So when do you two start?"

"Friday," Ron informed her. "We're heading over there right after school."

"Do you know what they're going to have you do your first day?" James asked.

"Not really," Kim admitted. "I think they're going to issue us our uniforms and start training us, but I'm not sure. I guess we'll have to wait and see."

---

- **_Middleton High_** -  
(_Friday_)

As soon as school ended Friday, Kim and Ron immediately changed into their traditional mission gear and headed out into the parking lot. Neither of them really knew what their first day was going to be like, but even in spite of the unknown, both teens were admittedly thrilled over the prospect of finally being able to put their talent to a specified use.

While Kim had always enjoyed the concept of free-lance work, there was something about being able to tell someone '_I work for…_' that brought about a sense of pride and belonging. The chain of command concept of working for, and taking orders from a superior didn't thrill her, but she hoped it would be tolerable.

"So, you think we'll get to drive our own police car?" Ron asked as they turned out of the student parking lot and headed down the street toward the station.

"What do you mean by '_we_'?" Kim quipped, giving her friend a playful jab. "You're the only one of us who has his actual license."

"You're just jealous 'cause I'm older than you," Ron teased. "But don't worry KP; January will be here before you know it."

"Yeah, then all I need to do is talk my parents into buying me a car and we can finally ditch this Smarty Mart bicycle of yours."

"Hey, I happen to think this bike of mine is quite badical, thank you."

"Yeah," Rufus squeaked, popping out of Ron's pocket and crossing his arms in disgust.

Kim just sighed and shook her head as Ron rounded the corner and turned into the front parking lot of the Middleton Police Department.

---

- **_Middleton Police Dept._** -

Pulling into the lot, Kim and Ron both noticed a uniformed officer standing by the curb talking on a cell phone. As they pulled to a stop in the closest open parking stall the officer closed his phone and turned around, giving the teens a friendly grin.

"Well-well-well," the man chuckled in a thick Irish twang. "I didn't believe the rumors, but I guess they're true after all; the world-renowned Team Possible, giving up super villains to fight crime on a local level."

"Hi, Officer Hobble," Kim greeted, slightly relieved to finally find a familiar face in the department.

"Actually," he announced proudly, pointing to the triple echelons sewn below the Middleton PD patch on his uniform's shoulders. "It's technically '_Sergeant_' Hobble now. They finally promoted me last month."

"Congratulations!" Kim replied. "So does that mean we report to you now?"

"No, you report to Cadet Haas primarily," the sergeant explained. "But if he's not around, I'm more or less _his_ supervisor."

"Oh, sorry; this whole chain of command thing is still a bit new to me," Kim admitted.

"That's alright, go ahead and drive around back, everyone is waiting there."

"We're not late or anything, are we?" Ron asked fearfully.

"Oh no," Hobble reassured them. "We're still waiting for Bomb Squad to get here from Upperton. They were still tied up in traffic, last I heard."

Kim and Ron both exchanged perplexed looks before glancing back at Sergeant Hobble.

"Did you just say Bomb Squad?" Kim asked apprehensively.

Hobble chuckled and shook his head. "Let's just say you two picked a hell of a day to start your law enforcement careers," he replied with a crooked smile.

---

The back lot of the Middleton Police Department was about half the size of the front. Where the front parking lot housed a little over thirty parking stalls for the surrounding businesses, the back lot, which was used solely by the Middleton PD, had only a single row of fifteen stalls painted along the curb that ran the length of the building.

The first ten stalls were reserved for department-owned vehicles, and were marked with metal signs labeled _POLICE PARKING ONLY_. The last five stalls in the back corner of the lot were left unmarked and designated for department personnel to park their personal vehicles.

The edge of the lot adjacent the station was intentionally left unpainted so that officers who were on-duty could park their cruisers along the fence-line instead of backing into one of the empty stalls. This was done so that in the event of an urgent call, the officer wouldn't have to waste precious time pulling out of the stall and turning around; they could just jump in, and shoot out of the lot.

Despite its somewhat miniscule size, the back lot was usually large enough to house everyone's department and personally-owned vehicles without fighting over parking. That was, of course, provided that the lot was occupied _only_ by Middleton PD vehicles.

As Ron brought his scooter around the corner of the building, both teens were shocked to see a literal armada of law enforcement vehicles and personnel from several different agencies occupying nearly every open inch of the asphalt lot.

There were three Stevens County Sheriff's Department patrol cars idling in front of a massive white-and-blue semi-type rig which was adorned with a wide array of emergency warning lights and had the words _DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY – ATF – BUREAU OF ALCOHOL, TOBACCO & FIREARMS_ painted along its sides. The uniformed sheriff's deputies and ATF agents were all gathered near the cab of the truck conversing about something.

Behind the rig, Kim saw the same Middleton PD Explorer she had driven in the other day parked next to what looked like a modified ambulance. The 'ambulance' also bore the markings of the Stevens County Sheriff's Department and had the words _SPECIAL WEAPONS AND TACTICS_ painted across the side and back. Not surprisingly, there were five sheriff's deputies dressed in urban fatigues and body armor standing in a group with Peter and Ruiz, who had Max sitting obediently at his feet.

As Ron brought his scooter to a stop next to the back door of the station, he and Kim stared out across the lot in silent fascination. It was Rufus who managed to sum up their feelings in one word:

"_Whoa!_"

Noticing the new arrivals, Peter nudged Ruiz who, along with the SWAT officers, walked over to where Kim and Ron were standing.

"I see you two are ready for action," Peter announced, examining their choice of clothes with a visible level of amusement.

"Well you didn't really specify what you wanted us to wear," Kim replied a bit defensively.

"Don't worry," Ruiz chuckled. "We're just messing with you. Those outfits will work fine for today."

"Uh, question," Ron spoke up. "What's going on here?"

"We're getting ready to serve a search warrant on the other side of town," Peter announced casually.

Kim glanced down at the assault rifles slung across the deputies' vests and arched her brows. "Who's house is it, Osama Bin Laden?"

"Nah," Ruiz replied. "Just some nutcase Derik arrested last night. Hobble is gonna fill everyone in on the details, we're just waiting for-"

The K-9 officer was interrupted by a uniformed sheriff's deputy, who walked over and said, "Bomb Squad just pulled in. Sergeant Hobble wants everyone up front for briefing."

"Let the games begin," Peter replied, gesturing for Kim and Ron to follow.

---

Once everyone had gathered in front of the police station, Hobble stepped up onto the tailgate of the Upperton PD Bomb Squad truck and began to address the gathered crowd of law enforcement personnel.

"I'd like to start by thanking all of you for your fast response-time today; especially Special Agent Maher and his men from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, who graciously came down from Fresno as soon as we contacted him this morning. Some of you already know what's going on, but for the rest of you, here's the… _sitch_, if you will."

Kim heard a collective chuckle rise from the crowd as several individuals looked her direction.

"At 06:45 hours this morning," Hobble continued. "One of our graveyard-shift officers received a prowler report at 267 Rose Lane over on the western side of town. The suspect, thirty-six-year-old David Kirby, was contacted in front of his home, which was directly across the street at 266 Rose Lane, and is the location we're going to be searching.

"Kirby was contacted by MPD officers Derik Monroe and Brian Falstad and offered no form of resistance throughout their contact with him. After a short amount of questioning, Kirby revealed that he was, in fact, _not_ prowling, but rather _patrolling_ the neighborhood in order to protect its residents from what he described only as '_evil_'. When asked who told him to patrol the neighborhood, Kirby admitted that President Bush was transmitting orders from Air Force One into a microchip in his brain."

Another collective cackle rose from the audience around Kim and Ron as one of the sheriff's deputies coughed "_Fifty-one-fifty!_"

Hobble chuckled and shook his head. "Yeah well, as amusing as his thought-process was, what _wasn't_ amusing was the fully-automatic MP-5 machine pistol holstered under his coat. A brief search of his living room incident-to-arrest also revealed an unregistered AR-15 assault rifle, five silencers designated for unspecified model firearms, two _Safariland_ Level III Kevlar vests, and an M60 belt-fed machine gun, which also appears to be fully-automatic. Kirby consequently admitted to the presence of several dozen additional firearms, most illegal by his description, as well as some explosive devices inside the house."

This time when Hobble paused, no one was laughing.

"At this time, Kirby is _not_ at the residence. He was arrested without incident and taken to the Middleton Medical Center this morning for psychological evaluation pending criminal prosecution. That doesn't necessarily mean, however, that the residence is unoccupied. Officer Monroe has been standing-by in front of the residence since 07:00 hours this morning while a search warrant was procured and the proper personnel could be contacted.

"When we arrive at the location, Lieutenant Gordon and his team are going to perform a search of the residence for any additional suspects," Hobble explained, gesturing toward the SWAT officers. He then nodded toward the two Bomb Squad officers and added, "Sergeant Williams and Officer Blanke will accompany his team and deactivate any booby-traps that may be present in the house.

"Once the house has been declared safe by SWAT and Bomb Squad, Agent Maher and his men will oversee the recovery of all firearms present at the location. All illegal firearms will be photographed, unloaded, and sorted into categories that ATF will clarify later at the scene.

"ATF will also be taking possession of all Class III/NFA firearms as well as any explosive devices. All state-banned firearms will be booked into MPD custody. All legally possessed and registered firearms are to be removed as well, though those will only be placed into safe keeping until the suspect can retrieve them later.

"As soon as we arrive on scene, Cadet Lieutenant Haas, Cadet Possible, and Cadet Stoppable will shut down the street from opposite ends while SWAT and Bomb Squad clear the residence. During that time, no civilian vehicle traffic will be allowed inside the area. Once the scene is deemed safe, they will re-open the road and assist ATF remove and catalogue the evidence."

"Do you want us to keep pedestrians out as well?" Peter asked.

"Only if they don't live there," Hobble replied. "If they want through, check their DL's. If they do live there, tell 'em to stay on the opposite side of the street and keep away from the scene."

Peter nodded understandingly.

"Alright," Hobble spoke up once again. "Dispatch is already aware of what's going on. Once we get on-scene, everyone is going to be operating on TAC 2. Other than that; let's stay safe, and get these guns off the street. Haas, you're in charge of the roadblock. Everyone else reports to ATF."

Peter nodded again and turned toward Kim and Ron as everyone else headed off toward their respective vehicles.

"Ron, you're the one with the driver's license, right?" he asked, pulling a set of car keys from his belt.

"Uh-huh," Ron nodded.

Peter handed him the keys and pointed to the Explorer at the back of the parking lot. "You and Kim go ahead and take Unit 115 over there," he ordered. "We're all gonna head out in a convoy, so just fall-in behind me and I'll tell you where to go once we get there."

"You got it!" Ron saluted.

"Alright everyone," Hobble shouted over the rumbling diesel engine of the ATF rig. "Let's roll!"

---

- **_266 Rose Ln._** -  
(_Warrant Service_)

Kim had to admit her adrenalin was pumping as Ron followed the convoy onto Rose Lane and pulled to a stop against the curb. As everyone exited their vehicles and congregated on the front lawn of Kirby's house, Kim suddenly felt like she always did before Ron and her entered Drakken's lair. She felt like she was back in a Global Justice hover jet preparing to parachute out over the Bavarian Alps in pursuit of Professor Dementor and his latest doomsday device.

In essence, Kim felt like Team Possible was back in action…

"You guys alright?" Peter asked, walking over to them.

Kim glanced over at Ron and, seeing her friend was practically drooling over all the action, turned back toward the teen and nodded.

"We're okay," Kim assured him. "Right, Ron?"

"This is so cool!" Ron said gleefully.

Kim rolled her eyes and said, "We're fine."

"Glad to hear it," Peter replied, holding out two blue windbreakers with _MIDDLETON POLICE_ printed across the front and back in gold letters. "Go ahead and put these on, since you don't have uniforms yet."

Kim and Ron did as instructed and Peter gestured behind them toward the street intersection at the end of the block.

"Take 115 and park it across the road there so no one can get by. I'm gonna do the same down there at the other end of the block. We're probably not gonna get a lot of cars coming through, but we may get two or three," he explained. "Just like Hobble said; no cars get through, and if they wanna walk, make sure they live here." He then walked over to his own car and retrieved two small blue booklets titled _MDC Operator's Guide_. They were labeled _K. Possible_, and _R. Stoppable_. "Just so you two don't get bored, this booklet will teach you how to operate the MDC's in the car. I wrote down your call signs and employee numbers inside the front covers. By the time we reopen the road, I'll expect both of you to be able to log-on and operate it like a pro."

"Aww man!" Ron whined, taking the booklet from the cadet's hand. "No one told me there'd be reading involved with this job."

"Yeah, well the pain will be worth it, Stoppable," Peter replied. "Besides, you'll learn how to run a criminal history check on your mom and dad."

"Ooh, learning just got fun!" Ron cheered, much to Kim's disdain.

"I'm happy that you're happy," Peter replied sarcastically. "Now let's get this road shut down."

Both teens nodded and hopped back into the Explorer. As soon as Peter pulled away from the curb, Ron flipped a u-turn and drove back up the hill toward the intersection. Arriving at the location, he parked the SUV diagonally across the center of the road and activated the overhead lights like Peter had demonstrated before they left the station.

With their end of the block effectively shut down, Ron turned toward his friend. "Admit it," he said, giving Kim a sly grin.

"Admit _what_?"

"That this is so much cooler than our old job," Ron explained.

"How exactly is this cooler than world-saving?" Kim asked doubtfully.

"Uh, hello," Ron replied dumbfounded. "Do you _not_ see that giant semi with '_ATF_' written all over it?"

"Ron, this is _not_ cooler than world-saving; _nothing_ is cooler than world-saving," Kim explained. She opened the passenger-side door and stepped out before turning and smiling. "But, this _is_ an acceptable substitution."

---

Fifteen minutes later SWAT was still inside the house. If was rather interesting, in Kim's opinion, that the officers were taking so much time to clear the house; on TV it always seemed like SWAT kicked down the door, rushed from room-to-room, and cleared an entire office building within a matter of seconds.

Of course that was television. Reality, as it turned out, was a bit less action-packed. The same was true for their roadblock…

Peter had mentioned that they probably weren't going to get a lot of cars coming through, but he had still said two or three; they hadn't seen a single car since pulling onto the street.

"Is it too much to ask for just _one_ car to come by?" Kim complained, looking down the empty street at Peter's cruiser. "If we get at least one car, then at least we're serving a purpose standing out here in the middle of the road."

Inside the Explorer, Ron was sitting in the driver's seat next to Rufus, who was standing on the ledge of the MDC reading the booklet Peter had given them. The molerat looked from the booklet leaning against the dashboard to the MDC mounted between the seats before typing something and hitting the '_Enter_' button. A few seconds later the computer chirped and Rufus gave his master a thumbs-up.

"Booyah!" Ron cheered. "Hey check it out, KP. Rufus and I figured out how to log ourselves onto the computer.

With a disappointed sigh, Kim walked over and leaned into to patrol car.

"See, 25-Q-6; that's me. Rufus figured out how to check everyone's status too," he bragged, hitting another key and bringing up another window. "Here we are; 25-Q-6 and 25-Q-7. They've got us on a '_Code 6W_', whatever that means."

"Cool, at least one of us is doing something productive."

"Looks like you're gonna get a chance to do something too," Ron announced, pointing over her shoulder. "We got incoming."

Kim turned around and saw a red convertible sports car sitting at the stop sign. The driver had his turn indicator on and seemed to be debating whether or not to turn down the street. After a few moments, the convertible made the turn and rolled slowly toward Kim and Ron.

As Kim stepped forward and gestured for the driver to stop, Ron walked up next to her and examined the car questioningly. "Haven't we seen this car somewhere before?" he asked.

As the car pulled to a stop in front of them, Kim nodded and replied, "I kind of looks like..." she trailed off as the familiarity of the sports car finally came together.

"Is that… _Josh_?" Ron asked, noticing the teenaged driver sitting behind the wheel.

At the same moment Josh Mankey shut off the engine of his car and stepped out, looking past the roadblock with a visible degree of concern on his face. Bringing his gaze back toward Kim and Ron, he finally recognized who was standing in front of him.

"Kim? Is that you?" he asked, walking toward them.

"Oh, uh… h-hi Josh," Kim stammered, instantly loosing her cool in front of her long-time crush. "Um… how's it going?"

"I think there's a police officer with a sniper rifle on my front porch," Josh replied, looking over their shoulders.

Kim and Ron both turned and saw a SWAT sharpshooter resting the bi-pod of his rifle against the porch railing of the house across the street from the Kirby residence.

"What's going on down there?" Josh asked, bringing his gaze back to Kim.

"They're, uh…" Kim paused and tried to collect her nerves.

"We're serving a search warrant on the residence across the street," Ron announced authoritatively. "There may be guns and explosives in the house, so SWAT and Bomb Squad are checking the building and we've closed the road to all civilian vehicle traffic. So if you want to walk through that's alright, but I'll have to ask that you stay away from the house across the street."

"So I can't drive through there?" Josh asked, still looking at Kim.

"Well-" Kim began to reply.

"Nope," Ron interjected. "Sorry dude, but that's by order of the Department of Alcohol, Firearms, and Tobacco."

"I thought it was the Bureau of Alcohol, _Tobacco_, and Firearms?" Josh asked.

Ron shot a quick glance at the title on the ATF's rig and blushed. "Oh yeah, ha-ha… my bad."

"Hey don't worry about it," Josh reassured them both. "My mom wanted me to grab some stuff from the market anyway, so I can head downtown and come back. This isn't gonna take a long time, is it?"

"I hope not. As soon as SWAT clears the house, they said we could re-open the road," Kim replied, finally managing to force out a complete sentence.

"No problem, it'll probably take me about thirty minutes anyway, so hopefully you two will be able to reopen the road before then," Josh said with a smile. "So, are you two like, police officers now?"

"No, this is just a little part-time volunteer thing to fill our free time," Kim responded nervously.

"We're police cadets!" Ron announced proudly.

Kim was worried about what Josh may think of her working for the police. It wasn't that she saw him as a deviant; it was just that teenagers and police officers tended to clash regardless of their law-abiding personalities.

To her immense relief Josh smiled and nodded. "That's cool," he replied. "I mean, it seems like these days no one is willing to take time and volunteer. You, on the other hand, go out of your way to donate your time and that's something I've always respected about you."

"Really?"

"Sure, it shows that you've got a big heart. That's a rare thing these days, especially among the other kids our age. Anyway, I should probably let you two get back to work. See you Monday at school."

"O-okay!" Kim replied as Josh got back in his car and turned around.

"See ya Monkey," Ron said with a wave.

As soon as he was out of sight, Kim pumped her fist in the air and turned toward her friend with a dreamy look in her eye. "Did you hear that!" she cheered. "He said he respects me! He said I have a big heart! Josh Mankey said I have more dedication than any of the other girls at school!"

"Yah for you," Ron cheered mockingly. "Here's an idea; why don't you just ask him out already?"

"What if he says no?"

Ron opened his mouth to tell her for the millionth time that she would never know unless she asked, but the radio in the Explorer cut him off.

"_All units,_" Sergeant Hobble's voice echoed through the speakers. "_SWAT just finished clearing the house. Let's go ahead and re-open the street to traffic, all cadets and officers report to Agent Maher at the ATF command unit for further instructions._"

---

By the time Kim and Ron re-opened the road and drove back to the command unit, SWAT and Bomb Squad had already packed up and left. Not knowing what to do next, they walked over to where Peter and Ruiz were standing with one of the men in an ATF windbreaker.

"Here's the plan guys," the agent announced as they approached. "I was just explaining to these officers that we've got my men and a number of sheriff's deputies inside the house removing guns."

"What you two can do," Peter elaborated. "Is carry out the guns that have already been unloaded and checked. There are a lot more than we expected, so for now, we're just gonna start piling them on the front lawn here."

"How many guns are in there?" Ron asked.

"Hundreds," the ATF agent replied.

Turning toward the front door, Kim watched as several agents and deputies came out with literal armloads of rifles, shotguns, and machine guns. One-by-one they walked over and dumped the guns onto the grass near the sidewalk.

"Agent Maher," one of the agents called over to the man next to her. "Do you want us to just dump 'em here, or should we try to sort these out in some type of order?"

The agent thought it over for a few second before replying, "Let's go ahead and sort them into four piles here; rifles, machine guns, and shotguns in one pile, submachine guns in another, pistols in the third, and silencers and explosive devices in the fourth."

The men nodded and began sorting the guns into their respective piles when another ATF agent walked out of the house with what looked to Kim like a mutated version of the infamous Tommy Gun she always saw in old gangster films. It had a large drum magazine and a metal stock that folded up on top of the receiver.

"Hey," the agent with the '_Tommy Gun_' called-out to his colleagues. "Does anyone know how to unload this thing?"

"What is it?" one of the deputies asked over his shoulder.

"A gun," the agent replied sardonically.

"That's a Streetsweeper," Ruiz informed the agent. "It's an auto-shotgun."

"So how do I remove the magazine?"

"Hell if I know," Ruiz shrugged, walking past him into the house.

"You can't remove the mag on a Streetsweeper," Hobble announced, walking out the front door and standing on the porch. "You gotta remove each shell individually. There's an extractor rod on the right side of the barrel; use that to unload it manually, like you would on an old single-action revolver."

"I don't… oh wait, here it is," the agent replied, reaching forward with his free hand and grabbing a lever on the side of the barrel. "I just couldn't figure out how to-"

_**BA-BOOM!**_

Everyone jumped as the massive shotgun discharged in the ATF agent's arms and sent two 12-guage slugs into the lawn at his feet. Peter dropped to the concrete sidewalk just in time to avoid being hit in the chest by a large chunk of grass and dirt that flew over him and hit the side of the command unit with a loud '_thud_'.

Once the initial shock had worn off, everyone took a moment to compose themselves while Agent Maher glared daggers at his incompetent colleague.

"Uh, is everyone alright?" the young agent asked nervously.

"I got dirt in my eye," one of the sheriff's deputies whined.

"Agent Hart," Maher growled. "I'm placing you in charge of sorting these guns into their respective piles, everyone else, just dump 'em over there and Hart will sort them for you."

Agent Hart sighed and hung his head while Maher turned back to face Kim and Ron.

"Possible, you and your partner help the rest of my agents get these guns out of the house," the agent ordered. "And if they hand you something you don't know how to unload, for God's sake give it to someone who can. Can you two handle that?"

"No big," Kim assured him.

---

- **_Middleton Police Dept._** -

In the end, it took a total of four and a half hours for the ATF to locate, remove, and catalogue every gun in the house. In total, 249 weapons and close to 115,000 rounds of ammunition were recovered from various rooms in the house. The illegal firearms recovered ranged from compact submachine guns, to select-fire assault rifles, to sniper rifles with silencers attached to the barrels, to belt-fed machine guns loaded with armor-piercing bullets.

In a shed in the back yard, sheriff's deputies discovered five crates loaded with hand grenades, military Claymore anti-personnel mines, and a loaded RPG-7 rocket launcher. They also recovered an AR-15 assault rifle with an attached grenade launcher and a fully-automatic 30mm M230 cannon which, according to Agent Maher, was normally found mounted underneath an Apache attack helicopter.

When one of the agents or deputies located a gun, Peter would photograph it before they retrieved and unloaded it. Once it was safely unloaded, they would hand it to Kim or Ron, who would in turn carry it out front where Agent Hart was busy sorting and tagging them.

Perhaps the most unsettling discovery that evening was made by Ruiz during a final search of the living room. Noticing a piece of plywood nailed-up against the front wall beneath the window, he and Sergeant Hobble pulled it off, only to discover that Kirby had armored the inside of the wall with Kevlar vests and steel plates.

As Hobble later pointed out, had Kirby been confronted while inside his house and chose to shoot it out with officers, not even SWAT would have stood a chance…

Finally, just before 9:30pm, Kim and Ron pulled into the back lot of the police station and parked their Explorer next to Peter's patrol car.

"Hell of a first day, wasn't it?" Peter asked, walking over and taking the keys from Ron.

"It was certainly an interesting afternoon," Kim agreed. "How was that guy even able to gat a hold of all those guns?"

"Who knows," Peter shrugged. "I guess you can get anything these days if you're willing to risk the jail time. Either way, Kirby's probably gonna be spending time up at the Coalinga State Hospital for a while."

"What are they gonna do with all those guns?" Ron asked.

"They'll probably run tests on all of them to see if they were used in any past crimes, then they'll melt 'em down and make razorblades or something."

"Good riddance," Kim mumbled. "So, when do you want us to come in next?"

"You mean we didn't manage to scare you away with all this nonsense today?" Peter asked in mock surprise.

"So not the drama," Kim replied dismissively.

"I'll tell you what," Peter announced, glancing at his watch. "If you two are willing to give up your day tomorrow, I could probably get you both geared up and fully trained by the end of the day."

Kim glanced over at Ron, who nodded approvingly.

"I think we can do that," Kim replied, turning back toward Peter. "What time do you want us to come in?"

"We should probably start early, so how about you come in a little before six," Peter replied.

"Six pm?" Ron asked eagerly.

"No, six am," the teen replied curtly.

"Six _am_?" Ron gasped. "I don't even wake up that early on _school days_!"

"Well then this will be a new experience for you," Peter replied sarcastically.

"Six is fine," Kim reassured her supervisor. "We'll see you then." She grabbed Ron's arm and started to pull him toward his scooter but Peter stopped her.

"Here," he said, holding out two identical keys. "You'll need these to get in; they unlock just about everything in the PD, so try not to loose 'em."

Taking the keys from his hand, Kim and Ron pocketed their keys and walked off toward Ron's scooter.

"Y'know," Kim spoke up as Ron started the bike and pulled out of the lot. "Since this technically counts as a mission, I don't have to be home until eleven. What do you say we hit Bueno Nacho for a late dinner?"

"You read my mind, KP," Ron replied. "Two grande-sized Nacos coming up!"

"More like _one_ Naco, and regular-sized burrito for me," Kim corrected.

"Same difference," Ron shrugged, turning the scooter in the direction of Bueno Nacho.


End file.
